About this book

Official estimates put the future scale of human displacement as a result of climate change at anywhere from 150 million to one billion people. Despite this crisis in the making, few countries or international institutions are adequately prepared to address and resolve this emerging human rights crisis.

This compilation brings together fifty-one of the leading texts on climate change and displacement. It provides a consolidated source and substantive overview of the key issues relating to climate change and displacement, including: the reality of climate displacement; the shape of current and proposed international law on this matter; the institutional and governance framework that will address and respond to this crisis; and an analysis of what a cross-section of governments and civil society organizations are already doing to prepare for and act against climate displacement. This volume is an indispensable resource for academics researching this issue, community and international advocates, officials of the United Nations and international human rights and humanitarian organizations; national and municipal governments as well as all people concerned about the human rights of climate displaced persons throughout the world.

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Biography

Scott Leckie is Director of Displacement Solutions--a non-profit initiative designed to assist refugees and displaced persons to return and recover their original homes. An international human rights lawyer and global housing advocate, he is recognised internationally as an expert in the field of economic and social rights, and was described as early as 1988 by leading human rights scholar Philip Alston, as an international human rights pioneer. He is known globally for his work in establishing new human rights organisations and remedial human rights institutions, as well as for his ground-breaking work on substantive issues such as housing and land rights, climate change and displacement, forced evictions, housing, land and property restitution rights for refugees and displaced persons, human rights issues in post-conflict and post-disaster situations and business and human rights. With some 25 years of practical human rights experiences and innovative problem-solving skills, he is regularly requested to provide advice and assistance to a wide range of UN agencies, Governments and NGOs. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, where he teaches courses on these issues.

Ezekiel Simperingham is an international human rights lawyer. Ezekiel was awarded an LLM in international legal studies fro the NYU School of Law in 2007 and holds an LLB (Hons) and a BA degree from the University of Auckland. Ezekiel was the Senior Legal Associate at the Refugee Status Appeals Authority in New Zealand from 2003 to 2006 and worked with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sri Lanka, the regional office of UNHCR in Australia, the NYU Center on Law and Security and the International Center for Transitional Justice in New York. Ezekiel is currently based in Bangkok, Thailand as a legal consultant for the international humans rights NGO Displacement Solutions, where he is focusing on the international human rights dimensions of the housing, land and property sector in Burma and the housing and property rights of refugees under international law.

Jordan Bakker is currently a student at Monash University Law School, and works as a research associate with Displacement Solutions. He has carried out fieldwork on climate displacement in Bangladesh, Kiribati and Tuvalu.